Do you let the fear of failure prevent you from succeeding? Are you unwilling to take risks because you are afraid of the results? Do you stand by while it feels like everyone around you is doing so well?

If you said yes to any of the questions above, you are not alone. We all have these thoughts. We are all afraid of failure. We are all scared of taking risks. We all feel inadequate when we compare ourselves to others. These are all normal feelings.

So how do you find success while these thoughts plague your mind? The answer is simple, but not easy. You have to go on despite your fears. You have to take risks knowing you might fail. You have to stop comparing yourself to others.

Success is a funny thing. In school, there is only one right answer. We make sure kids know when they’ve gotten an answer wrong. Red ink is abundant. We make students feel like a failure if they get anything below a B. It’s no wonder we’re all afraid of failing.

In the world after college, everything changes. People no longer expect us to find the one right answer. We are expected to experiment and figure things out for ourselves. We have to re-calibrate the way we approach problem solving.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned while trying to build my website and audience, it’s that there is no right answer. If your ideas succeed more than 50% of the time, you are doing an incredible job. That same score would flunk you out of school.

One of the most important lessons you can learn is that failure is not the end of the world. Failure teaches us lessons that success never could: It teaches us how to be resilient. It teaches us how to learn from our mistakes. It teaches us how to experiment and test things out for ourselves. It teaches us how to make it in the world as creators.

As artists and creatives, we must be willing to fall. It’s going to happen. A lot. So get used to it. The most important thing is that you learn how to rise too. You shouldn’t strive for failure, but it comes with the territory. The only way you will learn that lesson is if you are willing to try.

It’s not because I’m afraid of scary movies or video games. I am not afraid of heights or tight spaces. My biggest fear is often being my true self.

What does it mean to live truthfully? After all, we are supposed to present multiple versions of ourselves to the world. You wouldn’t act around your parents like you would with your closest friends. You wouldn’t act around your co-workers like you do with your family.

We are all chameleons adapting to our environments. But the question is, Do we have to be? I often wonder about this, and I still don’t know the right answer. Is there even a right answer?

I think the problem is, I haven’t defined who I truly am. What do I believe in? What values are important to me? What kind of person do I want to be?

It’s okay to act differently in different situations. We don’t necessarily need to be the same person at every moment in our lives, but we should always hold the same values.

We need to ask ourselves what we stand for. We need to live up to those truths no matter what. Because no matter what everyone else thinks about us, we are the ones who have to live with ourselves every day. If we can’t live by our own truth, what kind of life are we really living?

“Kindness is a free currency from a well that will never dry up” – @ladygaga (Lady Gaga)

If you are anything like me, you are tired of hearing all the terrible news around us. Whether it’s scandals, diseases, or death, it feels like the world is crumbling around us. If you regularly watch the news, you might think it’s best to never leave your home.

I refuse to believe the world is such a horrible place. In fact, we are living in one of the safest times in human history. There are no worldwide wars. Most of us aren’t in danger of conquests, pillaging, or raids. So why are we all so worried?

I believe there are two reasons for this. One is, fear sells, so the media tries to sell it to us as much as they can. The other is, we remember tragedy and travesty more than other things. So when we hear about bad things happening, they stay with us, even though we usually aren’t in danger.

What can we do about it? I think the answer lies in kindness. Just think back to a time when someone was kind to you. How did it make you feel? How did it change your day? I’m assuming you felt amazing and wanted to carry that feeling with you. That’s the power of kindness.

I admittedly could be more kind. Although I try my best to be kind to everyone I meet, I think I could do a hell of a lot better.

I can be petty. I can be jealous. I get annoyed and frustrated. But that doesn’t mean I can’t also be kind.

We tend to look at the world as either black or white. You are either mean or kind. We feel trapped in the box people put us in. It doesn’t have to be that way.

You can choose to be kind even if you are afraid. You can be kind even as jealousy or frustration pulls on you from the inside.

It’s all about your mindset. Anger, fear, jealousy, and greed are draining emotions. They weigh you down like a ton of bricks. Kindness, on the other hand, is an endless well.

That doesn’t mean you have to be kind all the time. We are human after all. But the more kindness you spread, the more it comes back to you. If it is true that we are the sum of the five people closest to us, then the more kind we are to the people around us, the more kind they will be to us too.

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It doesn’t matter if you’ve made one dollar or one million dollars from your art, one thing will always hold true: you can never stop working. The key to being a successful creator is not dependent on how much talent or luck you have.

It depends on how much effort you are willing to put in. It depends on how persistent you are. It depends on showing up every day to do the work.

Sure, talent also plays a role, but there are millions of talented people who never find success. Sure luck plays a role, but luck can only get you so far. Hard work, directed in the right place can take you farther than talent and luck ever could.

We all want to believe our work will speak for itself. We keep hoping and praying them someone will come along and discover us. But what if we are discovered? What if someone came to you and made all of your dreams come true? Would you stop working? What would you do?

Just ask all the one hit wonders what a few minutes of fame did for their careers. Are they still rich? Are they still adored by fans? Nope.

In order to build a sustainable career as an artist, you must keep going. You have to show up and do the work. Artists like Usher know how to stay on top. They are constantly creating new work. They innovate and try different things while everyone else becomes stale. They are willing to put in the hours while everyone else is taking it easy.

You may not want to be rich and famous like Usher, but everyone would love to be respected like he is. It doesn’t matter whether or not you like his music, you can still admire the fact that he has been able to build such a sustainable career.

You can do this too. You just have to be willing to put in the work to make it happen.

Love me or Hate me but at the end of the day u will RESPECT me!!
– @KingJames (Lebron James)

No matter how nice you are, no matter how hard you try, people will end up hating you or your work. It’s not because you did something wrong. Unfortunately, it’s just the way some people are. You can’t please everyone all the time.

I grew up thinking I could get everyone to like me. I never got into confrontations. I always tried to play the middle road when possible. The problem is, even when you keep to yourself and do your best, people still ridicule you.

It took me a while to figure this out. Why was I getting ridiculed for getting good grades? Why did people make fun of my art? I just wanted to make everyone happy, but the reality is, you can’t.

The great thing is, that lesson is a valuable one to learn. We can’t and shouldn’t try to please everyone. We have to embrace the people who love our work and ignore the people who don’t.

People can hate your work all they want, but taken in another light, it’s a sign of respect. If you are creating uninteresting work, people will just ignore you.

The fact that most people love your work and some people don’t is the ultimate compliment. It means you are creating work that is worthy of criticism.

Instead of trying to go out there and please the masses, embrace the haters. Learn that lesson I had to go through long ago. When you are at the top, people will try to bring you down. Use that as fuel to push you further.